22-05-2019, 09:59
RHIANNON GIDDENS with Francesco Turrisi ~ There Is No Other
![[Image: image.jpg?c=8AqMZ_uE342Dvk7rsfwYXB_TZlp6...x15tU=&f=5]](https://rovimusic.rovicorp.com/image.jpg?c=8AqMZ_uE342Dvk7rsfwYXB_TZlp6n_cq-Emr2zx15tU=&f=5)
Free from artifice is my predominant thought on this album - it is also superbly crafted. To me, the driving intent behind it all is almost tangible – such focused direction. Although Rhiannon Giddens is the primary artist, this is a collaboration between herself and Francesco Turrisi. Ms Giddens is responsible for banjo, octave violin, viola, violin, vocals and composition, and Turrisi is credited for accordion, banjo, bendir, cello, colascione (a long-necked lute), daf frame drum, lute, piano, tamburello and tombak.
Quite an interesting coalescence of Europe and the America’s here – Turrisi is a largely classical/jazz (but very obviously versatile) musician who hails from southern Italy and cites musical influences from Morocco and the Islamic realms, and Giddens is from North Carolina and trained at an opera school although choosing to pursue a career focusing on traditional music and its various branches and her African American roots (although she is presently resident in Limerick, Ireland). The title is apt - there is no 'other' - the diaspora is a fact - our DNA is a mishmash no matter what we like to think, and whether or not you enjoy folk music with bluegrass and Appalachian leanings, there can be absolutely no holes picked in the musicianship to be heard here; there are some original pieces as well as traditional adaptations and cover interpretations - and each and every one is beautifully and carefully rendered.
Giddens is a mistress of restraint (as well as the banjo) and doesn’t overstretch the mark vocally, which I’ve no doubt she could do with consummate ease, if she so wished, and it’s an altogether fascinating if unorthodox melting pot of sounds – no unnecessary embellishments, some tunes lovelier than others and all well-polished. It’s a question of personal taste, of course, but after three listens, which is what it required for me to properly digest, I think this is an excellent album.
Some links …
The title track “There Is No Other” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBIQ_tjBt0M
“Wayfaring Stranger” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJw-jfjgvaI
“I’m On My Way” which I have posted in before, in New and Notable … – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4Xlyi8Is98
“He Will See You Through” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RSwE92FGtk
… and finally – my firm favourite which I find was written by one Carlisle Floyd – an American opera composer and son of a Methodist minister who is now 92 and whose writings are based on Southern themes as well as other subjects – (might look up his Of Mice and Men and Wuthering Heights) –
Free from artifice is my predominant thought on this album - it is also superbly crafted. To me, the driving intent behind it all is almost tangible – such focused direction. Although Rhiannon Giddens is the primary artist, this is a collaboration between herself and Francesco Turrisi. Ms Giddens is responsible for banjo, octave violin, viola, violin, vocals and composition, and Turrisi is credited for accordion, banjo, bendir, cello, colascione (a long-necked lute), daf frame drum, lute, piano, tamburello and tombak.
Quite an interesting coalescence of Europe and the America’s here – Turrisi is a largely classical/jazz (but very obviously versatile) musician who hails from southern Italy and cites musical influences from Morocco and the Islamic realms, and Giddens is from North Carolina and trained at an opera school although choosing to pursue a career focusing on traditional music and its various branches and her African American roots (although she is presently resident in Limerick, Ireland). The title is apt - there is no 'other' - the diaspora is a fact - our DNA is a mishmash no matter what we like to think, and whether or not you enjoy folk music with bluegrass and Appalachian leanings, there can be absolutely no holes picked in the musicianship to be heard here; there are some original pieces as well as traditional adaptations and cover interpretations - and each and every one is beautifully and carefully rendered.
Giddens is a mistress of restraint (as well as the banjo) and doesn’t overstretch the mark vocally, which I’ve no doubt she could do with consummate ease, if she so wished, and it’s an altogether fascinating if unorthodox melting pot of sounds – no unnecessary embellishments, some tunes lovelier than others and all well-polished. It’s a question of personal taste, of course, but after three listens, which is what it required for me to properly digest, I think this is an excellent album.
Some links …
The title track “There Is No Other” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBIQ_tjBt0M
“Wayfaring Stranger” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJw-jfjgvaI
“I’m On My Way” which I have posted in before, in New and Notable … – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4Xlyi8Is98
“He Will See You Through” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RSwE92FGtk
… and finally – my firm favourite which I find was written by one Carlisle Floyd – an American opera composer and son of a Methodist minister who is now 92 and whose writings are based on Southern themes as well as other subjects – (might look up his Of Mice and Men and Wuthering Heights) –
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson
